These are the stories of a gardener and her adventures in and sometimes out of her eclectic and eccentric garden in a suburb of Houston, Texas.

Friday, January 15, 2010

The Few, The Proud, The Blooms On My Corner of Katy ...

The Head Gardener and I went on a brief scouting expedition here at Wit's End this morning to see if we could rustle up any blooms for this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. We found a few ... a very few ...

These Kalanchoes were moved inside the day before the freeze. They seem happy and I'm enjoying the burst of color in that spot, so I believe I'll leave them there for a while longer. I didn't notice until I uploaded the picture that there are buds on the Paperwhites.

I'd bought some cool season annuals in November and December and planted them out in the back. The 21st Century Phlox made it through the cold spell with only a little leaf damage, although I don't think the colors are as vivid on this purple one as they were prior to the freeze.

Its nearby sister is pretty in shades of pink.

I do grow other roses besides Gartendirektor Otto Linne. He's just the only one still in bloom. This bush is a good illustration of the difference in microclimates within my own garden. It's planted under a south facing window with a brick wall to one side and suffered not at all from the cold weather. Another bush planted only a few yards away near the fence was not so lucky: every single leaf on the bush was zapped by the cold.

I'd planted pansies, lobelias and some bulbs in this pot. The lobelias may be a cool season annual but they did not like flat out cold! The pansies are still blooming, at least.

Since our GBBD hostess, Carol of May Dreams Gardens, is such a friend of the garden fairies, I made sure to include the fairy house in the picture with these Sorbet Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Violas.

The Cutie Pie Violas have lived up to their name.

I bought two Calibrachoas at the same nursery, same variety, different colors. One of them I removed from its one quart pot and planted in a bigger container with some other plants. It stopped blooming shortly thereafter and hasn't bloomed since. The other one, pictured below, I left in its original quart container and it hasn't stopped blooming. I don't think the freeze even made it droop!

This alyssum that reseeded from last year's plants is one of two plants still blooming in the front and side gardens.The other plant still blooming is Prostrate Rosemary.

I know I've whined and whimpered a lot this week about the effects of the cold weather on my gardens. But if you take a look back at my Bloom Day post for January 2009, and read the list of what was blooming on my corner of Katy that day, I think you'll understand a little better why it hit me so hard. Thanks for listening to my whinging ... the HG has informed me that as of today, it should cease and desist so I will heed her counsel.

5 comments:

One most go through the grieving process when blooms are hit with such cold temperatures! You've done well through it. Love the kalanchoe, which around here is always a house plant. Thanks for facing the cold hard truth of January for bloom day!

Whine all you want, Cindy; we understand. It's good to see you still have some blooms outside. This will be a learning experience, if nothing else, on what plants are really hardy. Hopefully, many of them will be back for February's Bloom Day.

It's one thing when you live where plants are supposed to go dormant and sleep long.... quite another when Old Man Winter sneaks into a Zone 9 garden and knocks them unconscious! A little whining is okay, Cindy.

Greetings from the Head Gardener!

Welcome to my corner of Katy, a Texas cottage garden on the far west side of Houston. My gardens are filled with a wealth of native and adapted plants to welcome birds, bees and butterflies to this suburban corner lot. I've been gardening here for over 15 years now. As the lawn has shrunk and the gardens have grown, the Head Gardener and I have gained not only knowledge and experience, but friends and compatriots who love gardens and gardening as much as we do. It's both a joy and a privilege to share the garden with neighbors and passersby. You're always welcome to stop and smell the flowers!